


Regroup

by BunniesofDoom



Series: shattered mirrors [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Blake Belladonna Needs a Hug, Caretaking, F/F, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Medical Inaccuracies, Reunions, Ruby Rose (RWBY) Needs a Hug, Spoilers: Volume 8 (RWBY), Volume 8 (RWBY), Weiss Schnee Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:22:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28843797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunniesofDoom/pseuds/BunniesofDoom
Summary: With Ruby out of commission, someone needs to call the shots.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna & Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Penny Polendina & Ruby Rose, Ruby Rose & Weiss Schnee, Ruby Rose & Yang Xiao Long
Series: shattered mirrors [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2088174
Comments: 1
Kudos: 48





	Regroup

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not in love with this, but whatever, I've finally gotten it out of my head so I might as well post it. On that note, enjoy!

Ruby sleeps for a long time.

It's not surprising, given the extent of her injuries, but it's still a little worrying. But Blake and Weiss have plenty to do while their leader recovers. With Ruby's most pressing injury—whatever happened to her left arm—taken care of, they can turn their attention to her numerous other injuries. The worst is a nasty looking puncture wound in her right shoulder, which they carefully clean out and bandage. She's also cracked a couple of ribs, broken two fingers on her left hand, and amassed quite a collection of scrapes and bruises.

Once they've cleaned, bandaged, and splinted everything they can, they carefully move Ruby back to Weiss' bed and lay her next to Nora, pulling the blankets up to her chin. She still looks ghostly pale, but there's a bit more color in her face than when Blake first found her stumbling around the manor. Blake tries not to think too hard about the fact that now two members of their group are down for the count.

"Nice work, you two," Klein comments. Blake nods and runs a hand through her hair, trying to think of what to do next.

"Salutations!"

Penny's uncharacteristically quiet greeting pulls Blake out of her spiraling thoughts. "Penny. You're back."

The redhead nods. "Yes, I've finished my patrol around the perimeter. Is Ruby going to be okay?"

Blake bites her lip. She doesn't want to promise anything, but she hates seeing Penny look so distraught. "She's doing a little better now. Hopefully she'll pull through. Did you see anything while you were out—that we need to be worried about?" She hastily adds on that last part before Penny can take her words too literally.

"I did not find any threats or signs of anything suspicious in the manor or on the grounds," Penny announces. Weiss and Blake both breath a sigh of relief. "Cinder looked to be in less-than-optimal condition after our second battle today. I think that it's highly unlikely she will be returning anytime soon."

"Finally, some good news," Weiss mutters. Then, louder, "So, what should we do now?"

Both Penny and Weiss turn to look at Blake. Blake sighs heavily.

With Ruby out of commission, someone needs to call the shots. Apparently, in this case, it's Blake. She sighs again.

After some heated debate, they reluctantly decide to split up again, this time into groups of two. Weiss and Penny will go find the generator, and Blake will stay with Klein to look after Ruby and Nora. It's a hard call to make, to ask them to separate again after what happened earlier, but it has to be done. They need to get that generator up and running, and they can't leave the two injured girls alone to fend for themselves.

The looming silence in the room after Weiss and Penny depart is unsettling. Blake does her best not to dwell on it, instead forcing herself to keep occupied with helping Klein. She forces herself not to worry too much about the others, trying to keep herself focused on things she can actually fix. Blake tends to Ruby and Nora, cleans up the bloody towels left over from their impromptu surgery, and organizes and puts away the various supplies lying around the room.

Yang always used to say that Blake turned into a bit of a neat freak whenever she was stressed about something. Blake smiles fondly at the memory.

Nora stirs a couple of times, the first time she's returned to consciousness since she collapsed. She's not very coherent, still obviously pretty delirious from the pain, but Blake manages to get her to drink some water before she dozes off again.

"How are you feeling?" Blake asks the next time Nora wakes up.

The redhead blinks slowly, green eyes glassy with confusion. "Hurts," she slurs, before once again losing the battle with sleep.

Weiss' mother—Blake wishes that she could remember her name, but she's not about to ask—stops by for another visit, staring at the girls in Weiss' bed with an unreadable expression on her face. "Will they be okay?" she asks softly.

Blake scrubs a hand tiredly over her face. "I don't know," she admits. "I hope so."

Mrs. Schnee nods slightly before wandering off again, a ghost roaming the halls of the house.

By the time the power comes back on, the sky outside the window has started to darken again. Penny and Weiss return shortly after the lights flicker on, looking tired but satisfied. "Good job, you two," Blake says with a smile.

Weiss nods her thanks, plopping down on the bed next to Ruby, while Penny hovers awkwardly by the door, obviously itching for something to do. She practically falls over herself to agree when Blake suggests that she do another sweep of the grounds, just in case, and rushes out the door.

Shortly after Penny departs, Ruby wakes for the first time, eyelids fluttering open to reveal glazed silver. Blake rushes over to her side. "You're awake!"

"How are you feeling?" Weiss asks, scrambling to her feet so she can hover by her partner's side.

Ruby blinks up at them slowly, seeming dazed by the barrage of questions. "Hey guys," she says quietly, voice raspy and rough. "I'm ok. Kind of sore, but ok."

Blake hands her a glass of water from the nightstand, and Ruby takes it eagerly, sipping at it for a minute before handing it back. "I imagine that you'll be sore for a while. You were pretty beat up when we found you."

"How much do you remember?" Weiss asks. She looks ready to track down and beat up whoever did this to Ruby. Blake would happily join her.

"The last thing I remember is using my eyes on my arm, then Blake asking me about the surgery. Then, nothing." Ruby tries to smile, but it comes off as more of a grimace. "I guess whatever Klein gave me knocked me out pretty good." She shifts slightly, as if trying to find a more comfortable spot on the bed.

Blake frowns in concern. "We can give you some more painkillers if you want."

Ruby immediately shakes her head. "I think I'm okay for now. Thanks, though."

"Ruby, what happened to you?" Weiss asks the question that has been weighing on both of their minds. Ruby sighs and closes her eyes for a moment, as if bracing herself for impact. Then she begins to speak.

She tells them about getting lost in the mansion trying to them, about getting attacked by a Grimm—a Grimm that could talk, apparently. About how the Grimm had held her in place until Watts had shown up and injected something in her arm—and then just left her there.

"And then I ran into Blake, and well, you guys know the rest," Ruby says tiredly, seeming out of breath after talking for just a few minutes. Blake offers her the glass of water again.

There's one detail of her story that both of them find themselves stuck on. "You're sure that the Grimm talked?" Weiss asks skeptically. "Are you sure that you weren't just hallucinating because of the pain or something?"

"Yes," Ruby says firmly. "The first time I heard it, my aura wasn't even broken yet. I know that I didn't imagine it. It was real."

They all sit in silence for a moment to digest that fact and its implications. Finally, Blake decides to change the subject. "As unusual as that is, I'm a bit more concerned about whatever he injected you with, Ruby. It had some—unusual effects."

"It basically turned your arm into a Grimm arm," Weiss says with a frown. "Claws and everything."

Ruby gives a bit of a half-shrug, her right shoulder twitching up towards her ear. "I didn't really get a good look at the vial before he injected me," she admits. "But it looked like the stuff from the Grimm pool that Jinn showed us. And as soon is it was in my arm, it burned like a wound from a Grimm."

"Is it still burning now?" Weiss asks, concern written clearly across her face.

Ruby shakes her head, a hint of a wince on her face as she leans away slightly from Weiss. "No, that stopped as soon as Blake had me use my powers on it. Good job thinking of that, Blake."

"Thanks, Ruby."

Ruby smiles tiredly at her teammates. "By the way, I'm really proud of both of both of you. You both handled things very well."

Both girls blush, but before they can respond, there's a sudden sound from outside. Penny skids to a stop in the hallway outside the door to Weiss' room. "There's an airship outside," the redhead announces. "It just landed in the front courtyard."

Weiss and Blake exchange a look. "Stay here," Blake instructs Ruby. She and Weiss sprint after Penny. When they reach the front door, however, both of them freeze in shock.

Standing in front of the airship is none other than Yang Xiao Long, waving awkwardly. "Hey guys," she greets them with a smile. "We probably should've given you a heads up, but we needed a place to lie low and we figured that here was as good a place as anywhere." She rubs the back of her head sheepishly.

Blake's muscles finally unlock and she lunges towards her girlfriend the way she's wanted to for days, tackling her in a hug. Behind Yang, Blake can spot Jaune and Oscar and Ren, and it looks like they have a couple more people tagging alone with them, but Blake pays them no mind. Right now, the world could cave in around them and it wouldn't matter.

Blake is not about to be separated from her girlfriend again.

"What happened to you guys?" Weiss asks.

Blake finally releases Yang, stepping back next to her friend to get a better look. They all loo a bit worse for wear—especially Oscar.

"That's a bit of a long story," Ren says quietly.

"I'm sure that we all have a lot to catch up about," Yang says, frowning as she glances around. "Hey, where's Ruby?"

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please comment and leave kudos if you liked it.
> 
> Don't worry, Ruby isn't out of the woods just yet on the Grimm thing. But I'll talk about that more when it's time.


End file.
